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Show us yours, we’ll show you ours

Print Economy Audit

You’ll have heard us mention our Print Economy Audit over time. In today’s post, I thought I’d explain what it is and how a print audit can help businesses like yours.

Imagine, as a business, you have a fair amount of printed material ranging from Letterheads to multiple product brochures (which you probably do). All these printed items are with a few suppliers (we find it’s an average of 7!). Some of the printed items may not suit the people that are producing them, some maybe even outsourcing that work. Some of the people responsible for ordering print may be doing so in an ad-hoc manner and not thinking about the set up costs.

After we’ve produced the nice little report you get at the end, we’ll even have a section of comparison quotes for you to consider along with any suggestions for improvements. Best of all, the Print Economy Audit is free to take up. We’re that confident you’ll want to work with us by the end of it.

However, the next part some people have some reservations with…

You’ll have to do a little bit of work for us!

To start the Print Economy Audit off, we need to see 1 years worth (preferably the previous year) of your print invoices. This gives us critical information about your print:

When it’s ordered

What the specification (print, colour, paper etc) is

What qty was ordered

How it was delivered

What the cost to you was

This builds a nice calendar of your print for us, along with all the items and costs. We use this (along with hard copies) as the base for your audit.

The above usually raises a few questions:

Q. It will take me ages to sort through the invoices. A. Yes, it may take a while for someone to get the previous invoices together, but the impact these could have on savings for your business will more than make up for the time out.

Q. We’re happy with our current supplier and have no problems. A. That’s fine – we’re used to taking on incumbent suppliers when we take over the management of a customers print. Usually we’ll find that some items are suitable for that supplier and some aren’t. We’ll make sure they keep hold of all the suitable work. Plus they’ll also be exposed to more suitable work from us.

Q. If I show you our invoices for print, you’ll just come in cheaper! A. Usually we’ll find that going through specifications and qtys provides us with better ways to produce your print, which in turn brings in lower costs, so, yes – usually our comparison quotes will come in at a better price… but this will be ok with you, won’t it?

Q. How long does the process take? A. We usually find that a complete report will take around 2 weeks to produce, from getting your original invoices. We’ll provide a quick look at how you’re ordering, what you’re ordering along with any better ways you can implement to lower your costs (that could also be associated with your resources too).

What are the benefits?

More streamlined procurement process

A defined print strategy

Visible and accountable ordering procedures

Quicker routes to market

Product re-engineering

Batch manufacturing

A more flexible and focused supplier base with a full and diverse product offering

Centralised and managed artwork systems.

Lower cost logistics

Forward planned distribution

Timely and relevant management information

Reduced wastage and redundant stocks

A reduction in total print spend

Allows benchmarking of current supplier base

Time freed up to focus on your own business’s speciality, leaving Blue Star Print Solutions to focus on your print.

So, what can you do if the Print Economy Audit sounds like something you’d like to take up for your business, well that’s easy! Complete the form below and we’ll be in touch to arrange yours asap.